GAPS Introduction Diet, Week 3

I had heard that the third week on GAPS was supposed to be the week I started to feel better. I went into week 3 with high expectations. And while I did get to incorporate some new foods, and my gut held steady (no pain, no cramps, no distress other than the usual bloating and distension), I did not find myself to be suddenly in a place of health and wellness (darnit).

I spent my third week of GAPS finishing out Stage 2 of the Introduction Diet. Having gotten through the egg challenges of the previous week, I proceeded on with egg yolks, but no whites. The next item on the list?

Stew!!

Glory be! Something other than soup! Have you ever eaten soup for every single meal for two weeks?? Can you even imagine the joy of sticking a fork into something???

I know that photo may still look quite soup-y, it is a fine line between soup and stew, but those chunks of veggies were heaven in my mouth. And, I must confess, that first stew I made was quite delicious (I’ve posted my best attempt at a “recipe” below).

In preparation for making stews, I knew I’d need a good source of animal fat. I considered my options–beef tallow, chicken fat, or ghee. Since ghee is technically a dairy product and I haven’t introduced dairy yet, I decided against that one. The chicken fat I was getting from my broth was being stirred back into the soup. So I went with the beef tallow. Yes, my friends, I have rendered beef fat.

I’ve had one previous encounter with rendering tallow, and it didn’t go that well. I was just a bit hesitant to try it again. But it went better this time. And I think I have the kinks worked out so that next time will be perfect.

In case you, too, are feeling a need to render some tallow, here’s how to do it.

Source some beef suet from a butcher–the more organic and grass-fed the better. This may require some searching, and you may need to explore smaller, more local butchers to find it. But it is gloriously inexpensive.

Chop the suet into small chunks. Make your chunks much smaller than the ones in the photo. The smaller your chunks, the more tallow you’ll get out of them.

Place the suet into a heavy pot, either in a low oven (200 degrees or so) or on a low burner. You want a slow and gentle heat. Leave it alone for a while. The tallow will begin to melt out of the chunks. It may look sort of tan colored, but don’t worry. If your heat is low, it’s not burning. When it solidifies it’ll be creamy white.

There will be some solids left behind. When these are fried golden brown and crispy, remove them with a slotted spoon. These are “cracklin’s” and they are delicious mixed into cornbread. You can save them if you want. Or if you’re kinda grossed out by them you can throw them away.

Carefully–so very carefully–pour the tallow into a glass jar. Leave to cool. Store at room temperature. Tallow is a very stable fat so it’s good for high heat cooking like sauteeing and frying.

To make a GAPS stew, cook up your desired meat (ground beef, diced chicken, shredded chicken, etc.) in a very generous amount of animal fat, such as tallow. You could also use coconut oil or ghee, if tolerated. In my kitchen, if I’m making a chicken stew I use coconut oil, and if I’m making a beef stew I use tallow. Once your meat is cooked, add in a slew of veggies. I know that “slew” does not really provide a precise measurement for you. I shoot for about 10-12 cups chopped veggies for each pound of meat. Once your veggies are in the pot, add water or broth to cover all but the top two inches or so of the meat and veggies. Simmer until the veggies are soft and melty.

Stews do not actually replace the soup at this stage. You still need to eat lots and lots of soup. The broth is essential for your healing. While on Stage 2, I continued with soup for half of my meals. Ideally you would also sip some broth throughout the day.

Once you’ve managed stew, you can try a casserole. This turns out something like a cottage pie, or a shepherd’s pie. You transfer your stew into a casserole dish, and then top it with mashed cauliflower. The cauliflower forms a sort of “faux-tato” topping. Unfortunately, my belly wasn’t ready for cauliflower, so while I found the casserole I made to be quite delightful, I haven’t made another one.

Throughout all of these various soups and stews, I continued adding a new veggie every day or two. Some of them worked out great (mushrooms, peeled and seeded tomatoes, spinach). Others I had to take out again (green beans, broccoli).

Once I had the stews and casseroles figured out, I increased the amount of “juice” I was taking from my fermented veggies. I started my diet with 1 teaspoon per day, increased to 2 teaspoons in week 2, and increased to 3 teaspoons in week 3. This increase didn’t give me any troubles.

Up next, fermented fish. Can you even believe that this is part of my regular diet??

I didn’t feel up to making it myself, so I again hired my lovely friend to do it for me. I confess to being excited to try it, just because it’s so darn weird and I was dying of curiosity. Allow me to relieve your curiosity–rotten fish tastes like….rotten fish. At first I was excited just to have a new flavor in my diet, but it hasn’t grown on me. After a few days of fermented fish I began holding my nose to get it down.

Now you may well ask yourself, as any sane person would, why…why would one eat rotten fish? I asked myself the same question (and my Sweetie Pie husband asked me, too, while making disgusted faces at me) While I knew the benefits of anything fermented, I didn’t know why, in heaven’s name, I had to eat fermented fish.

I spent a fair amount of time mining Google results to find the answers, but it was tricky. Most search results were scientific studies based on livestock that I couldn’t understand or access. The best information I could come up with, both of which completely make sense to me, is this:

First, fish is chock full of many nutrients, minerals, and fats. Many of these beneficial elements are altered or destroyed by cooking. In eating the fish “raw”, you are preserving all of the nutrition of the fish.

Second, protein is an essential part of healing a compromised digestive system. In order to rebuild cellular structure in your body, you must have protein. However, protein is also very difficult to digest on a compromised digestive system. The ultimate gotcha. You can eat all the protein you want, but your body can’t digest it nor put it to proper use.

Fermentation is a sort of pre-digestive process. It breaks down the structures of the food, preserving the nutrients and making them more easily digested and more bioavailable to your body. So by consuming the fermented fish I’m giving my belly a form of protein that can be easily and immediately utilized by my body to rebuild my intestinal lining. Okay, reason enough for me to drop a piece of rotten fish down my gullet once a day.

I completed Stage 2 by incorporating ghee into my soup and stew. Ghee is butter with all of the protein solids removed. You may have heard Martha Stewart refer to “clarified butter”. She’s referring to ghee. It’s super simple to make, but I had a jar in the back of the fridge from my Indian cooking days and have been using that. I was pleased to find that while my body objects to dairy, it accepted ghee just fine.

Here’s what my diet looked like for Week 3 (Stage 2 of Intro)

continued all foods from Stage 1 (soups, ginger-lemon tea, “juice” from fermented veggies)

continued with egg yolks added to soups and stews–about 5 a day

introduced stew and casserole, adding new veggies every day or two. I removed the casserole because my body didn’t seem to enjoy the cauliflower “faux-tatoes”.

introduced fermented fish; my friend used fresh sardines for my batch. There are a variety of recipes in the GAPS book and on the web using other types of fish.

introduced ghee

My supplements remained the same

Hydrochloric acid before meals; I began Week 3 taking 3 capsules before meals and by the end of the week was able to reduce it to 2. An encouraging sign!

Probiotic–a half dose in the morning and a half dose in the evening

prescription meds for ulcerative colitis

And finally, I still continue my nightly detox bath, a routine that I have grown to adore. It not only helps keep my die-off symptoms under control, but is also an immensely soothing way to end my day.

And how did I feel? Meh.

I had a day or two of energy, when I was able to enjoy being outside with the kiddos or able to catch up on laundry or cooking, but I still required an hour or so of rest time in the afternoon. The synapses in my brain continued to fire on a very low speed, resulting in a certain amount of fogginess and lazy-thinking.

I had another pain-free week, which is reason for celebration. And while my gut still does voice some complaints–mostly in the form of bloating and distension–it is overall in a much better place than it was a month ago.

So, I guess I’m sticking it out for another week. Stage 3, here I come.

Basic Stew

This is my best guess at a “recipe” for the first GAPS stew I made. It’s infinitely adaptable. Substitute veggies and herbs as desired.

Ingredients

1/4 cupcoconut oil

1 zucchini peeled and seeded, cut into chunks

6 carrots cut into chunks

1 kabocha sqaush peeled and seeded, cut into chunks

6 tomatoes peeled and seeded, cut into chunks

1/2 poundmushrooms quartered

1/2 cupfresh parsley chopped

1 sprigfresh rosemary chopped

1 Tbsfresh thyme chopped

2 Tbsfresh sage chopped

2 poundsorganic chicken thighs skin-on and bone-in

water or chicken broth

sea salt

Directions

Melt the coconut oil in a crockpot. Add the veggies and stir together to mix well and coat with the oil.

Place the chicken thighs on top of the veggies. Add water or homemade chicken broth to cover all but the top 2″ of the veggies and meat. Season with salt to taste.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until chicken is done and the veggies are soft and melty.

Remove the meat and the skin from the bones and mix into the veggies. (Reserve the bones for making broth)

Serve as is, or with egg yolks or soft-boiled eggs mixed in for added nutrition.

Erin is wife to a Sweetie Pie husband and mom to five fun-loving kiddos. She lives with ulcerative colitis and IBS and has been treating both conditions, in part, with diet restrictions since 2008. She dabbles in a variety of specialty cooking, including allergen-free, GAPS, SCD, and Paleo. She also cooks “normal” food for her family from whatever cookbook is currently captivating her. She shares her cooking experiences on The Plan to Eat Blog. You can read her thoughts on other life experiences at Empty to Fill.

Erin, thanks for the encouragement. I keep telling myself that, but it's easy to get discouraged and forget :) Reply

ErinApril 24, 2012 AT 1:15 pm

Hey Erin,
I need some advice if you can help. I have been on the GAPS diet, stage 1 for about a week now. I was eating paleo/gluten-free before this. I am not having any diarrhea, but I am still experiencing a little bloating and gas that will not go away, e.g., the "gut gurgling" that just stays in my gut for a while. I am assuming this means that I am not ready for the next stage, right?
Maybe I am doing something wrong. I heard that you weren't supposed to start adding fermented veggie juice until stage 3, but I will begin adding it gradually. I am just ready to have normal digestion for once!! Thanks for your advice and sharing your story.
Sarah Reply

SarahApril 24, 2012 AT 11:56 am

Sarah, So glad you asked this question. I had the same problem and spent some time searching around on Baden Lashkov's blog (she's the author of the GAPS Guide). In her words, you can't wait for perfection. You have to move on.
Stage 1 should only ever last 7 days, max. After that, except in cases of severe, persistent diarrhea, you should move on to Stage 2. So much healing happens along the way, so unless you notice severe symptoms returning (these are unique to each individual) you keep moving forward.
Based on the information you've given, I'd recommend you move on to Stage 2. You can go slowly, certainly, but keep going forward. I started with the probiotic "juice" at the beginning, but doing it over again I probably would have waited. If you feel like you want to start it, go for it. Start with a small amount (about a teaspoon) and see what happens. You can always take it out again.
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask questions. I may not know the answer, but am happy to help search with/for you :)
Erin Reply

ErinApril 24, 2012 AT 1:21 pm

Hey Erin!
Thanks for your response! I wish it would notify me when someone responds so I am not terribly delayed in responding back. Anyway, my bloating/gas finally went away. Maybe it was a detox/cleansing reaction? I am now transitioning into stage 3. Hopefully I am not moving on too fast...It is hard to be patient, but I know it is worth it. Another question: how do you know approximately when it is time to move on to the next stage and when it would be too soon? Thanks again! Reply

SarahMay 2, 2012 AT 9:06 pm

Sarah, In general, if you aren't having any new symptoms or reacting to something you've introduced, you keep moving forward. Your pace can be as slow or as fast as your body allows, but it should be steady. This means moving forward even with some symptoms still hanging around (as long as they aren't new or returning symptoms. Hope that makes sense.) Have you seen this post from Baden's blog? Maybe it will help you: http://gapsguide.com/2012/04/11/move-but-dont-rush/
Oh, and there is a way you can be notified of follow-up comments, though I'm not really sure what it is! Maybe there is a box to check, when you're leaving a comment, that says something like "Notify me of follow-up comments"? Thanks for your questions. All the best to you. Reply

ErinMay 2, 2012 AT 9:49 pm

Thanks Erin! I will check out Baden's post on this. It seems like the 1st stage was the worst for me. Maybe those were "die-off" symptoms. Thank you for sharing your journey through this diet. I hope that your ulcerative colitis is healed at the end! The Healthy Home Economist has a post about the GAPS diet healing it, so I am sure you will have these results. Good luck :)

SarahMay 3, 2012 AT 11:58 am

Hi Erin,
Thanks for posting about your journey on GAPS. I am considering many alternatives to detoxing/ healing my gut and GAPS is one of them. Just a question, since I haven't made the leap and bought the book, from reading about fermented fish...how would it be for a mainly vegetarian to go through GAPS? I can tolerate poultry, but I think I'd probably chose not to eat over eating fish were I on a deserted island. Any thoughts? Thanks! Sophie Reply

SophieApril 25, 2012 AT 7:44 pm

Sophie, My two cents, for what it's worth: Dr. Campbell-McBride is generally not supportive of vegetarianism. She devotes a section of her book to it, and says that while you can do GAPS as a vegetarian, it's trickier. GAPS relies heavily on the vitamins found in meat, meat broths and animal fats. If you wanted to do GAPS as a vegetarian you would need to rely heavily on animal by-products--such as dairy products and butter. It's impossible to do GAPS on a vegan diet.
If you choose to try a vegetarian version of GAPS, I'd recommend finding a GAPS-knowledgeable doc who could help guide you through it. You'd want to make sure you're getting all the benefits possible, and you won't get that by just skipping the meat and the broth.
I was a vegetarian for about 10 years. After reading Dr. Campbell-McBride's book, and other info from the Weston A Price Foundation, I think it only contributed to my digestive distress. Not that this is the case for everyone who is vegetarian, but I think it was the case for me.
All the best to you in your searching! I know it's a tricky discernment process.
Erin Reply

ErinApril 25, 2012 AT 9:28 pm

Awesome stew. I didn't have squash or zucchini, but did have a couple of organic golden beets that I diced and tossed in. It turned out really well. I pulled some of the veggies and pureed them then put them back in. It gave the broth an orange Colorado, but the taste was awesome. I will definitely make this again. We haven't gone fully GAPS yet. Reply

Joy V.September 13, 2012 AT 4:52 pm

Joy, Yum! The beets sound like a good addition. I've been making seasonal variations of this stew for 6 months and still find it pretty tasty. I'm glad you enjoyed it :) Reply

Walter, GAPS places a high priority on detoxing the body. GAPS does this in two main ways, drinking fresh pressed juices and baths. GAPS recommends soaking in epsom salt and baking soda (either combined, or alternating). Here's a detailed article on preparing a detox bath http://www.wikihow.com/Take-a-Detox-Bath Hope this helps! Reply

ErinNovember 13, 2012 AT 8:01 pm

Rotten fish? That would be very hard to get down. Are you sure you are fermenting the fish properly?
I made fermented salmon and it was very good and was not fishy or rotten. Reply

RhiannaDecember 13, 2012 AT 2:22 pm

Rhianna, Yup, very sure I fermented it correctly. I haven't tried fermenting salmon, but I'm guessing it is a bit more palatable than fermented sardines--just by the nature of the fish! But the sardines are much cheaper than salmon. I haven't consumed any fermented fish since that first batch. I used the leftover fish (it only has a shelf-life of a few weeks) for planting under my tomatoes last summer. Best tomato season ever! :) Reply

ErinDecember 18, 2012 AT 12:25 pm

I've been eating fermented foods and trying to stick to the GAPS diet for 2 months now and noticed a huge difference. I have gastroparesis and this cleared the problem right up. Thanks for the post! Reply

Erin!
I came across your Gaps journey. How are you feeling??? I saw after 6 months you were quite bleak. Please let me know how you are now, a year later. What has your journey looked like? (you can reply to my email, needent on the comment thread).
I too have undiagnose(able) digestion problems and others, an have been on Gaps for a few weeks now. :)
Much love,
M Reply

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